Main menu

Post navigation

Wednesday Want: For The Modernist At Heart

If there was a style that I felt was made for me, it would be modern design paired with a sense of glitz and glamour. Simple lines, attention to form and function, mixed with refined natural and man-made materials found in much of Mid Century Modern design feels like it could be my heartbeat fueling my existence. (A bit dramatic? Probably so.)

via twentytwentyone.blogspot.com

When most people think of mid-century, what comes to mind? Often, it’s Danish designs and the use of natural materials, i.e. teaks, cork, and so on. Although the concept was refined overtime, the intent was simple: to infuse organic architecture to create unobtrusive design that would flow, effortlessly, with the environment that it was placed. This began with structures and worked its way toward furniture and so on. However, not all mid-century design was organic, but maintained a minimalist thread with an angst against formalism. Much of what we know as the modern style, today, came from the Bauhaus school, later to be coined as the International style. Interestingly enough, the concepts of Bauhaus was conceived in the early part of the 1900’s, just after Constructivism boomed, following WWI.

Milo Baughman via deconet.com

Fast forward back to the mid-century era, and you will find one of my first designer crushes, Milo Baughman. He was a later mid-century modern designer, known for his, at times, imposing proportions, minimalist approach, and use of high-end and exotic materials. While his designs did not always offer the organic shapes of the time, certainly, they paid homage to the greats, such as Meis Van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Marcel Breuer, of whom all contributed to solidifying the Bauhaus style in the 20’s and 30’s.